Descriptions du produit

The Higher Education Bubble America is facing a higher education bubble. Like the housing bubble, it is the product of cheap credit coupled with popular expectations of ever-increasing returns on investment, and as with housing prices, the cheap credit has caused college tuitions to vastly outpace inflation and family incomes. Now this bubble is bursting. In this Broadside, Glenn Harlan Reynolds explains the causes and effe Full description

Commentaires client les plus utiles

The laundry list of problems that the higher education faces these days seems to grow on an almost daily basis. Hardly a day passes that I don’t come across a big article or two lamenting the unsustainability of the current model of higher education. Many writers have correctly pointed out some of the main issues that trouble the higher educational industry – from the rampant drinking culture, over obsession with athletics, to the ever decreasing teaching standards – but the ultimate cause of all these maladies is very simple: overly easy access to too much credit. Easy money is a precursor to all major investment bubbles, and the higher education is, indisputably, in a big bubble of its own.

This short book correctly identifies some of the most salient features of the current higher educational bubbly: the unchecked rise in the cost of higher education over the past few decades, the radical increase in the overall college debt, and the decreasing value of college education. There are many similarities with the recent housing bubble, with some important distinctions: unlike mortgages, under the current laws it’s impossible to write off college debt if one files for personal bankruptcy. This reduces the flexibility of borrowers to walk away from their college debts. Instead of preventing the eventual bursting of the higher education bubble, it will only make its eventual demise more painful and devastating.

This short ebook offers several suggestions for the improvement of higher education industry, but I am afraid most of those will either fall on deaf ears or not really implemented. There is a tremendous amount of inertia in higher education, and I am afraid that the painful bursting of this bubble is inevitable.Lire la suite ›

Commentaires client les plus utiles sur Amazon.com (beta)

Amazon.com:
50 commentaires

78 internautes sur 81 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile

Timely and Eye-Opening -23 juin 2012

Par
Loyd E. Eskildson
- Publié sur Amazon.com

Format: Broché

The 'Higher Education Bubble' hypothesizes that there is now a speculative boom in higher education fueled by cheap credit (federal student loan programs), with a bust coming or already present. College tuition payments have rapidly risen far faster (tuition and fees up 440+% from 1982 - 2007, vs. cost of living increases of 106% and family income growth of 147% during the same period, while the rate of return for a college degree is decreasing.

For example, more and more newspaper reporters have learned their work was subsidized by classifieds and now can't survive Craigslist et al, computer programmers in the U.S. have been replaced by others in India, and both the proportion of adults graduating from college and non-elite schools are rising.

Already we have about $1 trillion in outstanding student loans, many in default (payments are being made on just 38% of the balances, down from 46% five years ago), and they can't be discharged through bankruptcy. Roughly 11% attended for-profit colleges and they receive about 25% of federal student loans and grants. Meanwhile, learning has presumably decreased - students are studying 50% less than a couple of decades ago.

Author Glenn Reynolds is a law professor at the University of Tennessee. He contends that college education is merely a way to meet spouses of similar status and a marker (self-discipline, ability to defer gratification), not an ingredient needed to enter the middle class. Reynolds points out as illustration that professional basketball players have expensive sneakers, but it's not the shoes that make them good.

Once a student graduates from college he/she may be unable to find a job enabling paying off student loans. Recent surveys have found that 25% of recent graduates were living with parents, starting salaries in 2008 averaged 10% less than 2006 and 2007, and about half were either unemployed or underemployed. A 6/25/2012 WSJ article reported the law school class of 2011 had little better than a 50-50 chance of landing a ful-time permanent job as a lawyer within nine months of receiving their degree. Per the Dept. of Labor, about one in three graduates is employed in a position not requiring a college degree.

Reynolds advises those considering higher education to avoid debt and consider non-degree vocations. He believes that bursting the bubble of higher education will be beneficial by encouraging entrepreneurship. He'd also like to make defaults expensive to colleges so they become more careful about how much they lend, who they lend it to, and what kinds of programs they offer. The 'good news,' per Reynolds, is that 19th century teaching methods are being challenged by 21st century alternatives.

Harvard/MIT have announced they're putting $60 million into open-source online education, Minerva University (Larry Summers and Bob Kerrey) has raised $25 million in start-up capital, Stanford professor Sebastian Thrun is starting Udacity after teaching 160,000 robotic driving in an on-line course.

Bottom-Line: Reynolds' thesis makes economic sense, yet remains controversial because numerous reports also tell us that college graduates earn considerably more than non-graduates over a lifetime. Given the growth of inequality in incomes, I suspect this differential would considerably shrink if median incomes were instead compared. Dr. Richard Vedder, Director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity believes the difference is due to differences in talent and motivation between the population that completes college vs. those that do not.

52 internautes sur 56 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile

Everyone Should Read This Book!22 juin 2012

Par
Lao T. Sue
- Publié sur Amazon.com

Format: Broché
Achat vérifié

I have taught college for 40 years -- mostly part-time. I have worked at a decent private institution for the last 27 years and have been horrified at the lack of preparation of a significant number of students -- not all, but way too many. In my terms, half of our graduates are functionally illiterate. Combine this with escalating tuition, and you get a national crisis -- a bubble, if you will.

Mr. Reynolds' work in this area, which I have accessed most often as a daily visitor to his excellent "Instapundit" website, has defined and elevated this issue so that it is now entering the mainstream.

Every teacher and administrator, at every level of education, should read this book. Every parent of a school age child, and every high school or college student, should also read it. Something that can't go on won't. Change is coming. If you want to understand the problems of contemporary higher education and be part of the national discussion and solution, you've got to read this clear and concise work.

27 internautes sur 29 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile

Pointed, Lucid and Persuasive27 juin 2012

Par
Richard B. Schwartz
- Publié sur Amazon.com

Format: Broché
Achat vérifié

This is not a book, but rather a broadside--a longish essay (48 small pages) which focuses intently on the subject in a lively and pointed way. Institutions of higher education are charging too much for too little. This cannot last; the bubble will burst. The ivies, significant privates and flagship publics will all survive, but many (fourth tier law schools, e.g.) will not. The education bubble is comparable to the .com bubble: operations will be closed; the industry will be shaken, but the internet and world wide web will continue.

Meanwhile, Professor Reynolds offers some cogent advice. First and foremost, do not incur significant student loan debt. And to the universities? Offer coursework of rigor and substance; cut the fluff. Offer value for dollar.

While there will be significant readjustment, as runaway tuition, fees and loan costs approach the stone wall, that readjustment can take many forms. The further cheapening of the product is always likely. Indeed, it has been underway for decades.

If there is one element of the readjustment that Professor Reynolds overlooks, it is the chameleon-like nature of institutions to change their appearance and, indeed, their very nature. The pleasant little liberal arts college on the edge of town is suddenly surviving on the basis of weekend/evening cash-cow master's degree programs or setting up offices in strip malls in a neighboring city. This process has also been underway for decades.

Reynolds writes with passion; his rhetoric is lucid and lively; he is aware of key works in the contemporary higher ed literature (and quotes them, but does not provide footnoted references).

This broadside will stimulate discussion and open eyes not yet familiar with the subject.

17 internautes sur 17 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile

As my eldest finishes high school, I did not need this eye-opener31 juillet 2012

Par
CTSheepdog
- Publié sur Amazon.com

Format: Broché
Achat vérifié

In truth, I am a regular reader of InstaPundit and Reynolds' other works. Thus, his many regular Hiegher Education Bubble Updates prepared me for the contents of this short, quick read. That said, reading Bubble in one sitting had the emotional impact of watching the unrated highlights of all the Saw movies in a single sitting. My eyes were nearly bleeding.

As the fater of four sons with the eldest going into his last year of high school, we are right in the midst of the college admissions dance. Knowing that I am going to be paying today's prices for at least the eldest makes me feel like a home buyer in 2006 - I know it is the top of the market but how much could I be overpaying?

I highly recommend this work for both prospective consumers of higher education but for everyone since this bubble's slow deflation will have broad and far reaching impacts on our society.

9 internautes sur 9 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile

The $100,000 Book13 juillet 2012

Par
Bradley Bevers
- Publié sur Amazon.com

Format: Broché

This book is one of the least expensive on Amazon, but could easily be the most valuable book you buy the rest of your life. If you are a high school student, college student, have kids, or even know someone who has kids - get this book. Buy multiple copies and give them away.

The research is eye-opening and the author's style is easy to read and very straightforward. I think that there are many people who realize that something is wrong with the college education system right now, but it is so vast that it is hard to articulate what the real problems are. In this short work, the author lucidly explains how we got here, what is going on right now, and what is about to happen.

This is more of a pamphlet than a book. It is under 50 pages and the large font stretches it even further. I think the shorter format works well for a book like this, because anyone can read it in less than an hour and it is easy to recommend.

Seriously - this book can save you $100,000 or more. If you are convinced that going to college is the right choice for you or your children, you may be right . . . but buy this book first and know what you are getting into. Highly Recommended.